Now I See You | ✓

Twenty-Eight

Manal, Josie and I are all sitting studying together in the living area of our apartment the following afternoon. Manal's working on an engineering project, Josie's trying to work a mapping programme, and I'm reading an article for an essay I've got due for my art history course on Friday.

I'm sitting next to Manal, so I notice when her phone screen lights up with a message from my brother. She lunges for it, quickly locking the screen, but I've already seen it.

It's been over a month since Zeb visited and yet they're still talking. Surely, there's something going on there. There's no way they're only messaging to talk about me.

When I lift my eyes to my friend's, I find her buried back in her laptop, cheeks stained red as she obviously tries to avoid my gaze.

"You gonna tell me what the deal is there?" I ask, trying but probably failing to keep my tone casual.

Honestly, if they're trying it out, or wanting to see each other, or whatever, I'm fine with it, so long as they're both on the same page about it. They're adults and can do whatever they want. I'd just hate for Zeb to take it less seriously than Manal.

"What deal?" she asks, her voice jumping about three octaves, coming out all squeaky.

I roll my eyes, but try to keep my voice gentle. "Manal, I'm not mad that you're talking to Zeb. Just don't understand why you're both refusing to say anything to me about it."

She swallows, observing me through wary eyes. "I don't know what to tell you."

I'm not sure why her admission hurts, but it does. It's like she feels she can'ttalk to me, which is something I'd never thought would happen for the two of us. We've always been able to talk about anything.

The first people I told when Aubin and I decided yesterday to really give it a go were her and Josie. Josie let us grill her about the football player she was making out with last weekend when I left the party with Aubin after first meeting Klaudia. She had no problem answering our questions, even though she batted it all away and told us it was a one-time thing. So, why wouldn't Manal want to share this with us?

I mean, sure, I'm Zeb's sister, but I thought that wouldn't matter for our friendship.

Shrugging, I turn my gaze back to my laptop. "You don't have to tell me anything, if you don't want to."

Maybe I'm being petulant about this, hoping that she'd talk to me about her potential feelings for my brother, but I'm not sure. It's hard to tell.

"We've just been talking," she murmurs. "It started out as talking about you, him checking up on how you're doing, but..."

My lips twitch. "Now he's checking up on how you're doing instead, huh?"

Honestly, that makes my heart swell a little. Zeb's a very caring person and the thought that some of those attentions are settling on one of my closest friends isn't a bad thing.

Her cheeks stain red and she nervously twists her fingers. "Something like that."

Josie's got a huge grin on her face as she looks at our friend. "You're a little flushed there, babe," she giggles.

Manal rolls her eyes, looking even more embarrassed. "It's not a big deal. Maybe I'm reading into it too much. I mean, he's not even said anything to Judah."
I raise an eyebrow. "Well, you didn't say anything to me, either."

She groans, burying her face in her hands. "Ugh, men."

Josie cackles, looking delighted. "You catching feelings over there, muchacha?"